Kansas Basketball Recruiting: The 5 Biggest Selling Points for Andrew Wiggins

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Kansas basketball recruiting has had an excellent year, and the Jayhawks have the potential to add to their already stellar recruiting class in the coming weeks.

Andrew Wiggins, the top high school basketball recruit in the country, has narrowed his list to Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida State. He has begun his final round of visits, and the Jayhawks get their chance to impress Wiggins on March 4 when he is in Lawrence for the team’s game against Texas Tech.

Here are Kansas’ five biggest selling points for Andrew Wiggins.

5. Tradition

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Kansas is one of the most successful programs in college basketball history. No one has more conference championships than the Jayhawks (55). Additionally, Kansas has 27 consensus first-team All-Americans, the most of any program in college basketball history.

The Jayhawks can pitch to Wiggins the idea of playing at Allen Fieldhouse, where fans partake in such traditions as the Rock Chalk Chant. Wiggins would play in front of a packed house every night in one of the loudest venues in all of college basketball. 

4. Consistency

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Since Bill Self took over at Kansas, no team has been more consistent than the Jayhawks. In the last eight seasons, Kansas has won the Big 12 regular season championship every year and has earned a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament.

Kansas is on its way this year to its 24th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, the longest active streak in the country. During that time, the Jayhawks have won at least 23 games every year. That kind of consistency cannot be matched by the other finalists.

3. The Incoming Recruiting Class

Wayne Selden is part of an already elite Kansas recruiting class.
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If Wiggins picks the Jayhawks, he would be a huge addition to an already elite recruiting class. Kansas currently has the second-ranked recruiting class in 2013, according to Rivals.com.

Wing Wayne Selden is ranked the No. 12 recruit in the country, according to ESPN.com, and big man Joel Embiid is No. 28. With Brannen Greene, Conner Frankamp and Frank Mason rounding out the class, Kansas would have plenty of incoming talent with Wiggins.

2. Bill Self

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Simply put, Bill Self is one of the best coaches in the country. The Jayhawks have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament four of the last six years. He won the national title in 2008 in a Final Four that featured all four top seeds—he made it to the championship game last year in a year where Kansas was not supposed to be there.

Self demands his players play on both ends of the floor. Every year since he arrived at Kansas, the Jayhawks have ranked in the top 40 of both offensive and defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, and seven of those 10 years, Kansas has been in the top 20 in both categories.

1. Opportunity

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This year’s Kansas team is loaded with upperclassmen. Starters Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford and Kevin Young are all seniors. Ben McLemore, the team’s fifth starter, figures to be a top-five pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

That means that Bill Self will have plenty of holes to fill next season. If Wiggins were to pick Kansas, there is little doubt that he would step right in and be the man for the Jayhawks.